Wellington Region – capital of New Zealand since 1865
Wellington became the capital of New Zealand in 1865, the third after Russell and Auckland, and that role has shaped the whole region ever since. Māori knew the area as Te Upoko o te Ika a Māui, the head of Māui's fish, and legend recounts that Kupe discovered and explored it in about the tenth century. European settlement began in 1839 through the New Zealand Company, and Wellington became capital of Wellington Province when the province was created in 1853, until the provinces were abolished on 1 November 1876. Today around 543,400 people live here, most of them in the urban area of Wellington, Porirua, Lower Hutt and Upper Hutt. Share your memories and photographs with us.